


Brother

by Sterntaler



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Crying, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, mischa - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-07
Updated: 2014-03-07
Packaged: 2018-01-14 22:03:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1280389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sterntaler/pseuds/Sterntaler
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will is affected by a crime scene and comes to Hannibal for help. Little does he know that he will end up giving help to Hannibal who is reminded of his own past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Brother

Will felt horrible. The crime scene affected him so much today that he just couldn’t work as he should. He simply wasn’t able to get into the murderers head. It wasn’t hard to guess why. He just didn’t want to this time. He didn’t want to empathize with someone so cruel. And the fact that the boy had been there made it absolutely impossible to do his work. He just couldn’t, he couldn’t. Jack was angry with him. They had to catch that bastard as soon as possible and therefore they needed Will. He knew that, he didn’t care, not this time. 

He had to see Hannibal. Dr Lecter was the only one who could help him now. He didn’t even know which kind of help he needed. He wanted to clear his head from everything he had seen today. On the other hand he felt guilty because he couldn’t do his job although he had indeed empathized – only not with the murderer but with the little boy who lost everything today, everything he had in life. Will felt his heart ache. Maybe he just needed someone to talk to, someone who would listen and understand – he needed Hannibal.

Hannibal immediately recognized that something was wrong with Will today. And Will could see that he had already seen through his shaking facade. He could tell that by the way Hannibal looked at him. Will sat down in his chair, took a deep shattering breath and tried to control his shaking hands.

“Will, what happened?” Hannibal asked unusually directly. 

Will grimaced awkwardly: “Is it that obvious?”

“You are sweating, your hands are shaking and your breath is uneven.” Hannibal pointed out in his usual calm tone, his face showing no expression at all. 

“Um.. well, yeah… I.. I didn’t… I don’t feel so well today.” Will stuttered watching the floor under his feet thoroughly.

“Was there something at the crime scene that unsettled you?” Hannibal tried to approach the subject he already guessed was the reason for Will’s condition.

“Yes.” Will’s voice was merely a whisper. He swallowed hard and took another deep breath as the pictures from today’s crime scene came back into his mind torturing him.

“Tell me about it.” 

“It… it was horrible”, Will began, his right hand nervously running through his damp locks. “The murderer nearly killed an entire family.”

“Nearly?” Hannibal asked, his voice now softened.

“Yes. He killed the mother, the father and their… little daughter.” Will almost choked on the last two words, his voice shaky, the picture of the blood-soaked pajamas popping into his mind. 

Will pulled himself together and went on: “He didn’t kill their son. The boy was at a friend’s home, sleeping over for the first time. He came back to his parent’s home this morning with the mother of his friend. They found the front door open and they… they found them.” 

Will buried his face into the palms of his hands, and continued, his voice now muffled through the hands in front of his mouth: “He saw them, he saw all the blood and their blank pale faces, their open throats… everything. He was still there when we arrived. They couldn’t make him go into the ambulance. He just sat there and stared,… the whole time. He didn’t cry, he didn’t say a word. He looked all empty. I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Will took his shaking hand away from his face back into his lap and slowly raised his head. The sight he got irritated him. 

Hannibal just sat there motionless. His eyes were pointed somewhere near Will’s feet but obviously he wasn’t looking at anything, just staring into emptiness no expression showing on his face. 

“Dr Lecter?” Will asked carefully. No answer.

“Dr Lecter?” Will felt a wave of fear rolling over him as his psychiatrist did not move or speak once again. 

Why was Hannibal not responding? What was happening here?

Will’s whole body was shaking now. He didn’t know what to do. Panic rose inside of him. He just looked at Hannibal not knowing what else he should do.  
He saw something falling down from Hannibal’s face into his lap: a tear. 

Will couldn’t believe what he saw. Another tear fell down from Hannibal’s face. The silence in the room was nearly unbearable for Will.

He stood up instinctively, went to the other chair where Hannibal sat and crouched down beside it.

Hannibal didn’t move at all. His eyes were wide open, another tear already welling up inside them.

“Dr Lecter?” Will tried once again. “Hannibal?” Maybe his first name would get him some reaction, Will thought, but nothing happened.

Only after Will placed his hand gently over Hannibal’s left hand that gripped the armrest of his chair firmly, he began to blink and move his head slightly. 

“Hannibal? What’s wrong?” Will asked softly as he slightly stroked his thumb over the back of Hannibal’s hand.

Hannibal’s lips were trembling. Will guessed he wanted to say something but didn’t know how to express it.

“Come on, say it. I’m your friend. You can tell me anything.” Will said with a low voice. “I won’t judge you” he added, just in case.

Hannibal’s breath shattered as if he had held it for a long time. Then in a tearful voice he said one single word that Will did not understand: “Mischa.”

“Mischa? What does that mean? Is it a name? A girl’s name?” Will asked carefully.  
Hannibal nodded.

“Who is Mischa?” Will watched Hannibal’s face and found it surprising how easy it was to look Hannibal in the eyes in this situation as he wasn’t looking back. He could see Hannibal bow his head even further down, clench his jaw as if he was in pain and close his eyes tightly shut. He sniffed once and began to sob silently. Will couldn’t bear that sight any longer. He stood up, sat down on the armrest and laid his arm around Hannibal’s shoulder. It took Hannibal a few seconds to relax into the touch but as he did Will could feel Hannibal’s head laying heavy against his chest. He also felt Hannibal’s hands grasping his shirt and holding it tightly.

Will just let him sob against his shirt, not bothering that he began to feel the wetness of Hannibal’s tears through the fabric. He gently stroked Hannibal’s head while his other arm was wrapped around his shoulders. 

After a few minutes that felt like hours for Will, Hannibal calmed down until his sobs were barely audible. Will continued stroking his head and Hannibal did not move. 

Only his hands relaxed a little bit but they still held on Will’s shirt. Will bowed and turned his head a little bit so that his cheek slightly touched Hannibal’s head. 

“Who is Mischa?” Will whispered softly against his hair.

“My sister.” Hannibal answered with a low voice.

Still stroking over Hannibal’s head Will went on: “I didn’t know that you have a sister.”

“I don’t.” came the whispered answer. “I had a sister. She died.”

Although Will wasn’t really surprised about Hannibal’s answer he felt a deep sadness spreading inside of him.

“What happened to her?” he asked, his voice heavy of emotion.

“It was a bright day, I was eight years old, she must have been five.” Hannibal started. “We had played in the garden the whole day. When we went inside I had an argument with my father. Mischa fell down while we were playing Hide and Seek and her knee hit a rather large stone and began to bleed from a little cut. As she didn’t cry long and already smiled again after a few minutes I did not consider to go back inside the house so that the wound could have been treated properly. My father was displeased with my behavior and…”

Hannibal’s voice became tearful again: “…he accused me of not being able to take responsibility for my sister.” 

As he began to sob again, Will placed a peck on Hannibal’s head and tried to calm him down.

“Ssssh, it’s alright. I’m here. Go on.” He tried to soothe him with his voice.

Hannibal took a deep breath and went on, his tears still audible in his voice: “I was so hurt and angry that I ran away. My father let me. He knew I always came back after a while. However that time was different. It took me especially long to go home again because I was so hurt and I was anxious that he might have been right and that I really was an irresponsible person. As I came back it was already dark but there was no light in the house. I wondered why but with my eight years I could not imagine that anything bad could have happened to my family. Then I… found them.” 

Hannibal began choking and his whole body trembled. 

“Ssshhh, it’s ok, it’s ok” Will repeated softly. He wondered if Hannibal had ever told anyone about this before.

He began to sob heavily now against Will’s shirt and Will could do nothing but trying to soothe him and so he continued stroking Hannibal’s head gently and he began rocking back and forth slightly as if he was nursing a little child.

Between his sobs Hannibal cried out: “Their throats were cut open and so were their bodies. Their intestines hung out of their abdomens. He… slaughtered them. And Mischa… she was still holding her Teddy Bear, the one I bought her from the first money I earned from helping my father to paint the whole house.”  
Will could feel his anger welling up his throat. Silent tears began to slide down his face and fall into Hannibal’s hair. 

“I’m so sorry” he whispered with a tearful voice, “I’m so sorry.”

They sat like this for quite a while: Hannibal with his face and his hands buried in Will’s shirt, his head resting against Will’s chest, still sobbing quietly and Will holding his left arm tight around Hannibal’s torso and his cheek against Hannibal’s head while his right arm kept caressing Hannibal’s hair and his silent tears kept falling down on a strand of it from time to time.

As Will recognized that Hannibal had grown completely silent and relaxed against his body, he lifted his head up and placed a kiss on top of Hannibal’s head. Then he slightly pushed him away so that he could look into his eyes from above and he placed another kiss on his forehead, then another on his left cheek and finally a little peck on his red and swollen nose. 

After that Will hugged him deeply resting his temple against Hannibal’s so that his mouth was right above Hannibal’s ear.

“I love you” he whispered and as he raised his head again he placed a gentle kiss on Hannibal’s temple right where his head had been only a second before.

He cupped Hannibal’s face searching for an answer in his face. Hannibal was shaking, his lips were trembling and his still watery eyes looked into Will’s and Will could feel warmth spreading inside his chest and rising up to his face. Hannibal looked so helpless and at the same time so beautiful in Will’s eyes. 

Then Will worked up all his courage and placed a short gentle kiss on Hannibal’s trembling lips. They were still wet from tears and probably from some nasal mucus too but Will didn’t care.

As he pulled back he felt a hand grabbing his curls carefully, gently pushing his head forward again. This time it was Hannibal who placed his lips on Will’s and as he parted them Will took the chance to flick his tongue into Hannibal’s mouth. A surprised moan escaped Hannibal’s throat but after a second he began to return the kiss. As they finally parted, their hands still buried in the other ones hair, Will kept his forehead resting against Hannibal’s. He could feel Hannibal’s hot breath against his chin. 

“I love you too, Will” he heard him say with a soft voice.

Then Hannibal slightly pushed Will away so that he was able to look him into the eyes.

“I love you more than anyone else in this world.”

Will was speechless. A wave of joy made his heart race and throb loud against his chest. He grabbed Hannibal’s hand and caressed it with his thumb while he was watching it from above. Then he leaded the other ones hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it. It felt like the most intimate thing he had ever done, a gesture of pure love and admiration. “And so do I” he said smiling wide, his eyes smiling too. 

His smile spread onto Hannibal’s lips and all the pain he had felt was gone.


End file.
